Be Thankful

One of the things I look forward to every morning is my time with Jesus! This is a time where I talk to Him and He talks to me through prayer and the Word. I love reading daily devotionals, I read many of them and I came across this one that I wanted to share with you. With Thanksgiving around the corner, everyone is in the spirit of thankfulness. Enjoy this word!!

 

…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. {Ephesians 5:20}

I’ve never met a person who feels sorry for themselves who is upbeat and happy about life. No matter how much they do have in most cases they don’t see it and therefore actually miss the blessing. That mindset comes from comparison; comparing oneself to another.

Comparison is part of the fallout from the Garden of Eden which unlocked the knowledge of “good and evil” in humanity. Now when we assess situations we don’t look at it and say “God made that, it’s awesome!” which was what God intended. Instead we say “That person is better (or worse) than me”. We put a scale of good to bad on everything and then measure our own lives against it. Gal 6:3 says “…don’t compare yourself with others”.

Comparison is damaging and undermines the uniqueness in which God has created each of us. There’s a Jewish proverb that says “I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet”. One of the most transformational concepts within the Bible is thankfulness. The power you DO HAVE and that it is a blessing, will literally turn your life around. Things won’t necessarily change externally BUT internally something amazing happens. It’s called peace, joy and the presence of God, which is far more valuable than what you have on the outside, because what you have on the outside is always subject to the decay of this world.

In the Bible, thankfulness is often linked to unlocking God's presence in your life. It’s not that He’s not there, its just that feeling sorry for yourself steals your awareness that He is.

Today, steal yourself against the trap of comparison. Just choose to BE THANKFUL. I’ll leave you with this little saying: If you COUNT all your blessings you’ll always uncover a PROFIT!

Be Encouraged, Be Blessed!

Landy Perez-Feliciano ♥